Lift embargo to protect our shores

What can we do to keep oil exploration off Cuba's coast from going horribly wrong? The answer at the moment, because of our nation's embargo on Cuba, is "not much."

With Cuba inching closer to deep-water drilling — and South Florida in the cross-hairs if something goes wrong — something's got to give.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the tracts just north of Cuba could yield as much as 6 million barrels of petroleum, which is why the Cuban government is attracting foreign firms to help extract the oil and re-boot its economy.

In 2011, Repsol, the Spanish energy company, began exploratory operations just 60 miles from Florida's coast. A year later, the firm dropped its efforts, and South Florida breathed a sigh of relief.

But recently, with Russian President Vladimir Putin looking on, two Russian oil firms signed agreements with Cuba to explore deepwater deposits in the Gulf Stream, which flows north into the Florida Straits.

The agreement re-creates a Russian presence just 90 miles from Florida's coastline and runs contrary to the embargo's goal of destabilizing the Castro regime.

Is any further proof needed that the embargo, imposed in 1960, has failed? It's failed to change Cuba's government. It's failed to improve the lives of its 11 million people. And it's failing to protect our shores from a possible catastrophe.

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham recently travelled to Cuba and talked with government officials who acknowledge their inexperience with deep-sea oil exploration, but hope to begin drilling by 2015.

"This isn't something that's over some distant horizon," says Graham. "The sun's already up on this. The clock is ticking."

Imagine Fort Lauderdale's beach awash with tar balls from an oil slick. Picture our coral reefs damaged by chemicals used to disperse oil. Consider the damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf, and what would have happened afterward without American ingenuity.

If a major spill were to occur near the Florida Straits, the embargo would hamstring our nation's ability to work with the Cuban government in capping the well and preventing an ecological disaster.

The embargo bars items made with more than 10 percent of American content from being sold to Cuba, and that includes oil drilling rigs, blowout preventers and other devices that could help prevent a spill.

The United States has the best oil-drilling technology in the world, but it would do little good if a blowout occurs and Washington becomes embroiled in a debate about the embargo, rather than disaster containment.

Yes, our government has taken steps to provide special licenses that would allow some firms to respond in the event of a spill, and officials are confident the Cubans would accept our help. But given the edgy relations, nothing is guaranteed.

And rather than create unnecessary hoops for American firms, wouldn't we all feel safer if they could freely work with oil-drilling firms doing business with Cuba?

The good news is public opinion favors easing the embargo.

Better news would be for Congress to end this ineffective embargo and step up diplomatic efforts to prod the Cuban government toward a more democratic stance on the world stage.